Abstract

This thesis concerns the criticisms by the French and German neo-Kantians of Karl Marx's philosophy of history or historical materialism. The epistemological and social philosophical views of such neo-Kantians as Hermann Cohen, Heinrich Rickert, Karl Kautsky, Raymond Aron, Henri Marrou, and Jurgen Habermas are presented. The neo-Kantian view of knowledge and action in history is contrasted to the Marxist view of the unity of theory and practice. Such epistemological issues as the materialist and subjective idealist theories of knowledge , the nature of historical truth and its confirmation, and the possibility of discovering laws and progress in history, are discussed from the standpoint of the neo-Kantians and the Marxists . The issues concerned with the philosophy of changing history include the reformist and revolutionary programs for change, and the capitalist and communist solutions to the problem of enhancing individual freedom. The positions connected with changing history are understood as resting on the premises connected with knowing history. Thus, the reformist philosophy of neo-Kantianism is consistent with its subjective idealist view of historical knowledge. The Marxist philosophy of the proletarian revolution is consistent with its dialectical materialist view of reality and knowledge